Operations

Investors Make Tesla Most Valuable Automaker

Tesla Inc. has surpassed General Motors in market capitalization to become the most valuable publicly traded automaker as investor enthusiasm continues to ramp up for the company.

Tesla shares increased 3.26% to $312.39 on April 10. The move brought the company's market cap to $50.887 billion, which exceeded General Motors' valuation by about $1 million, Reuters reported.

Shares have surged in recent weeks, despite a wide chasm between vehicle production. While Tesla delivered about 79,000 vehicles in 2016, General Motors delivered about 3.04 million vehicles in the same period.

On April 3, Tesla surpassed Ford's market share, which was $49.1 billion. Tesla had announced that it delivered more than 25,000 vehicles in the first quarter, which was a 69% increase over the prior year.

A move by the White House to roll back automobile fuel-efficiency targets set by the Obama administration and to challenge the right of California and other states to set stricter tailpipe emission rules faces an uphill climb.

After a court challenge stymied its efforts to give makers of glider kits a reprieve from challenged provisions of its greenhouse gas regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn an order to not enforce those regulations against small manufacturers of glider kits.

A federal court has granted a temporary stay that suspends the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to not enforce for 2018 and 2019 a 300-unit production cap put in place on the manufacture of glider kits/vehicles that do not comply with Phase 2 GHG emission rules.